Google has recently demonstrated that self driving cars are feasible with today's technology. It is likely that this type of smart car will eventually much safer than today's cars, and with computer power rising exponentially (Moore's Law) and computing costs dropping, it won't be long before this sort of technology is common, and perhaps even mandated as a safety feature.

The Google cars use LIDAR, radar and video cameras to navigate, and it is possible that this technology could be used to simultaneously collect road condition and traffic volume information.

It could mean that road condition and traffic volume information over entire road networks would be available almost instantly.

It is not science fiction. Large fleets of self-driving highly computerised cars are just around the corner. Local Government needs to start lobbying now to ensure that they also collect road condition and traffic data.

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